Participating HBCUs

"The Fisk-Meharry Wellness Initiative has afforded an opportunity for Fisk University
to maintain our "town and gown" legacy. Through this partnership, we have been able
to integrate our student body with the local community around issues that really matter...our
health. We have empowered our students with opportunity and have encouraged them to
become translators and disseminators of vital information in hopes of modifying behaviors
to eventually eradicate health disparities along racial lines."

From Knoxville College:

"At Knoxville College we envisioned an integrated public health and wellness program
that would focus on health disparities in underserved populations. That dream is coming
to fruition for us through the Center for Public Health, a Meharry HBCU Wellness Project
at Knoxville College. Because of the center the College now offers a degree in public
health, which is also part of the college work program.

"Knoxville College was founded in 1875 by the Board of Freedman's Mission of the United
Presbyterian Church in North America. It was chartered by the state of Tennessee in
1901 to promote religious moral and educational leadership among the freedmen. Now
accredited in the state of Tennessee, the College is proud to offer programs such
as the HBCU Wellness Program to promote healthier lifestyle choices to the surrounding
community.

"The HBCU Wellness Program offers our student ambassadors the opportunity to identify
health disparities in the underserved population and then design programs to target
their discoveries. As a result, our students are not only promoting healthier lifestyle
choices; they're also now considering health-related careers."

"Since the launch of the HBCU Wellness efforts at LeMoyne-Owen College, we have benefitted
in a variety of ways. We've been able to hire five new staff members, expanding our
institutional and community outreach. We've also expanded technologically. We gained
a state-of-the-art videoconferencing center, which enables us to interface not only
with the HBCU Wellness network but also other entities, for example, our colleagues
in the Department of Defense's Partnership for the Asthma Trigger- Free Homes (PATH)
asthma project.

"The Wellness Project's emphasis on community outreach and the formation of partnerships
has united us with more than one hundred agencies in the Mid-South region. They have
both supported our students' projects and been accessible to the College at large,
and additional opportunities have often sprung from the first contact. For example,
the Wellness Project fostered a relationship with the Memphis Health Center which
later led to our working together in the PATH asthma study.

"Through the students' Wellness projects, and their participation in a variety of
community outreach efforts—the Mid-South Fair, the Southern Heritage Classic, and
numerous other health fairs and community outreach events—we estimate an impact upon
more than 100,000 Mid-Southerners. And now, with our ability to host the CoverKids'
program and hire a Hispanic translator/community outreach consultant, we are developing
a significant outreach to Memphis's growing Hispanic population as well.

"None of this growth could have taken place without the HBCU Wellness Project at Lemoyne
Owen College."

"Since the inception of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Wellness
Project in 2006, we at Lane College have been finding better solutions for community
residents for access to health care. Thanks to the project, we have distributed free
educational literature and brochures, conducted educational workshops, health activities,
testing/screenings, and health fairs, and connected with multiple healthcare agencies
and professionals. These critical factors permit us to be a conduit of information
for the community about health issues, how to prevent them, and how to maintain one's
health once diagnosed.

"The project has enabled us at Lane College to open our doors to numerous community
partners, and together we're changing lives. At least one major project takes place
each month, and our students take the lead, providing free and confidential screenings
for citizens, gathering surveys, analyzing data, and tracking participants' health
knowledge. The community has benefitted but the College has as well, by strengthening
our community-based service learning, developing effective intervention programs,
and better preparing our students for graduate school and/or careers in the health
care professions."

Tennessee State University's storied past in health care covers a School of Nursing
with enviable pass rates on the state's licensing exam. Now students beyond the School
of Nursing can impact their community through the HBCU Wellness Project—and perhaps
they will be drawn into the health care field too. The HBCU Wellness Project welcomes
Tennessee State University aboard.